Austin Flint

Who was Austin Flint?

Austin Flint was an American physician, born at Northampton, Massachusetts, son of Austin Flint. He attended medical lectures at the University of Louisville from 1854 to 1856 and in 1856 and 1857 at Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia. From 1857 to 1859 he was editor of the Buffalo Medical Journal, surgeon of Buffalo City Hospital, and professor of physiology and microscopical anatomy in the University at Buffalo. In 1859 he removed to New York City with his father and was appointed professor of physiology in New York Medical College. He was professor of physiology in the New Orleans Medical College in 1860 and studied in Europe in 1860 and 1861. He was professor of physiology and microscopic anatomy in Bellevue Hospital Medical College, New York City, from 1861 till that institution was consolidated with the medical department of New York University in 1898, when he was appointed professor of physiology in Cornell University Medical College. He was, in 1874, Surgeon-General of New York. He carried out extensive experimental investigations in human physiology and made several important discoveries. He assisted in establishing the glycogenic function of the liver; showed that one of the functions of the liver is to separate from the blood the cholesterin, which is a product of the nervous system. and which, becoming a constituent of the bile, is afterward converted into what he named "stercorin", the odorous principle of feces. His principal works are: